Tribes: Ascend is the world’s fastest shooter - a high-adrenaline, free to play online multiplayer FPS with jetpacks, skiing, vehicles, and multiple classes. The classic shooter franchise Tribes has been played by well over 1 million people. With Tribes: Ascend, the franchise is reborn – fast-paced, vertical, acrobatic combat combined with class-based teamwork and stunning sci-fi visuals.

Out of the Blue

Tribes: Ascend Version 1.1, PTS 2.1, October, 2015

Public Test Server Notes

We need your help! Prior to release on the live servers, this release will be made available for general public testing on a test server. The purpose of this server is to allow us to gain end-user feedback and bug testing on the release before we fully finalize the release. In order to make this release as good as we can, we need the Tribe’s community to help us test and to give feedback!

We currently expect the release to be placed onto the Public Test Server on or before October 23, 2015. Once the release is made available on PTS, we will publish installation and test instructions.

Gameplay

“Feedback on equal damage across classes was mixed. The majority (only by a slim margin) disliked the change. However, many liked that it fixed some long standing issues like one-shotting from full health. In PTS 2.1 we are trying to find a middle ground.”

Damage now linearly falls off to a minimum value at max range. (See weapon stats)

“Feedback on the linear damage falloff change was generally positive. While people liked the simplicity of linear falloff, seeing low damage numbers was widely disliked. The system in PTS 2.1 is a happy medium blend of the old and new systems. Falloff is still linear, but at max range the projectile does a minimum percent damage.”

Max Impulse falloff area has been clamped.

“We have clamped impulse falloff so players can still get 100% impulse but control the angle at which that impulse is applied.”

Within 40% of the falloff radius 100% of the impulse is applied. This range is similar to the old banded damage impulse areas.

Ammo drops now give health when picked up.

Light armor heals 30%

Medium armor heals 25%

Heavy armor heals 20%

Base asset upgrades have been removed and the stats adjusted accordingly.

Shields

“Shields on base assets only mitigate damage and can now be worn down over time instead of completely prevent damage from slower rate of fire weapons such as the disk launcher.”

Health set to 4000, up from 3500.

Shield set to 1000, down from 1600

Shield now regenerates over 4 seconds, down from 1.7 seconds.

Now requires 75% health to re-activate after death.

Range set to 20000, roughly equal to a rank 4 sensor.

Base Turret

“The new Base Turrets operate like Tribes 2 base turrets. They no longer destroy players in 1 shot and the serve primarily as area denial.”

Health set to 4000, up from 3500.

Shields set to 1000, down from 1600

Shield now regenerates over 4 seconds, down from 1.7 seconds

Requires 75% health to re-activate after death.

Projectile speed set to 2500, down from 4000.

Damage set to 250 down from 650

Range set to 250 down from 700

Fire interval set to 1.3 down from 2.5

Generator

Health set to 12000, roughly equal to a rank 4 generator.

Now requires 75% health to re-activate after death.

Self Heal time set to 4 minutes, roughly equal to a rank 3 generator.

Automatic weapons projectile flight distance/lifetime is now shorter.

“Hitscan weapons have always had a set max range. Beyond that range no damage is dealt. Automatic projectile based weapons have not had the same limitations and fly the full speed value over 1 second. The end result was a projectile distance that was over 3 times longer than intended. This change should help network performance by reducing the number of automatic projectiles in air.”

Automatic projectile's flight time set to 0.5 seconds, down from 1 second.

This results in a flight distance of 10500 units, down from 21000.

Vehicle eject inheritance adjusted per armor class.

40% for light down from 100%

35% for medium down from 100%

30% for heavy down from 50%

Added a vehicle pad to Terminus.

Fixed an issue where falloff damage was being applied even if the target was directly hit.

Fixed an issue where health regen delay and speed were using non-leveled up values.

Fixed an issue where belt items were not canceling the spawn protection effect.

Fixed an issue where terrain in terminus would launch ragdolls into lower orbit.

Fixed an issue where hitscan pistols had their impulse settings rolled back.

“The laser targeter is in a very rough state, but this is where it was left in beta. If people find it useful in PTS 2.1 we will spend a little more time on it polishing it up.”

BXT-1 removed.

Sawed off shotgun removed.

Light Assault Rifle is now fully automatic like the Assault Rifle.

Standardized particle system size for Chaingun and X1 LMG projectiles to help read distances better.

Mortar Launcher projectiles now explode on enemy player impact.

Shocklance now falls off at 50% range to 50% damage at max range.

Melee has been buffed to 1000 damage.

Fractal grenades now fire 20 shots in 3 seconds.

Ammo counts for all weapons have increased:

Light armor gains 10% ammo

Medium armor gains 30% ammo

Heavy armor gains 50% ammo

Packs

The Rocket Turret has moved back to Medium armor.

New “Rage” pack is now available for light armor.

When the flag is taken off the stand players within a set radius around the flag gain Rage is applied and lasts 15 seconds.

While Rage is active:

Mass decreased by 25%

Impulse is increased by 10%

Activating the pack will thrust the player at 75% of the flag grabbers speed at the time the flag was grabbed. The pack may only be activated once per Rage effect.

First self impact damage is ignored and ends Rage.

Energy is set to 100% when rage is cleared.

Belt Items

“Belt items were overly nerfed in PTS2, damage has been increased in PTS2.1 to find a balance between PTS1 and PTS2 values.”

Damage for all belt items has increased.

Deployable explosive set to 2 max deployed per player.

Repair deployable removed.

NOTE: There are known usability issues and UI deficiencies associated with this transition that make it more difficult than it should be to both equip your weapons and to understand what you have equipped. There are also known bugs with the display on the HUD of your equipped weapons. We want to test this system on PTS prior to finalizing the User Interface, as feedback from testing could lead to changes in the overall design, which may in turn impact the user interface.

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